The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-04-21
BELLEVUE, La, THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1887.

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sudden excess of light, which, to as,
converted the star from a faint to-
conspicuous object.
Of the actual change we can form no
conception. Even of the ordinary
changes in progress in the vaporoas
envelope OF our own sun we have but
the faintest idea. Hydrogen gas forms,
we know, the chief constituent of these
glowing vaporous masses known as ssle
solar prominences. These prominenees
are shot up from the surface of the san
with the most remarkable rapidity tei q
height varying from a few Thousand
to hundred thousand miles. Taey
change in a most astonishing manrser
Lockyer quotes an instance in wlSch
he saw prominence of glowing ay-
drogen gas twenty-seven thousand
miles high disappear totally in sten
minutes! Yet these tremendous kut-
bursts, with which the imagination gan
but inadequately deal, cause no ap9re-
ciable difference in the light and seat
emitted by our sun. How unimagSna-
bly, tremendous, then, must have lsaen
the outburst in the Blaze Star in Cors,na
so tremendous. in fact, that were sthe
; same event to occur in our own sunswe
are safe to say that every planet ins5he
system would in an instant be conveeoed
from its present solid state to incantses-
cent vapor.
The only other important tempo ary
star which has appeared in moGern
times was discovered in the constella-
tion of the Swan by Professor Schmidt,
of Athens. on November "a, 1876; but
as to give any particulars of it would
simply be repeating with slight addi-
| tions and differences what we have said
| about the star OF 1866, we shall con-
clude with few remarks about the
star which appeared some time ago in
| the Andromeda nebula. The Andro-
media nebula itself is seen as faint,
misty patch, plainly visible ON clear
! moonless night to the naked eye; almost
in the center of this object the new star
appeared. 1t did not attain any great
| brilliancy, for even when brightest it
was not visible to the unaided vision.
As soon as the star appeared the ques-
ton arose, was it tsituated in the nebula
or between the nebula and us? Had
we not been possessed of the spectro-
scope, we should have been unable to
answer that question conclusively.
Spectroscopic examination, however,
showed that the spectrum of the star
| and that of the nebula were similar,
| and as the spectrum of the nebula is a
peculiar one, there does not remain the
slightest doubt that they are physically
connected. But the apparition of this
star has conclusively settled one
great astronomical question. A pop
ular theory of stellar nebul@ con-
stantly appearing in textbooks is, that
they are island universes-galaxies
similar to our own situated far out in
space. This theory, though strongly
negatived by evidence, still clings te-
naciously to life. The only nebula which,
strictly speaking, did fall outside of the
evidence was this one in Andromeda;
for, while the spectroscope indicated
that it was composed of countless stars,
the most powerful telescopes were un-
able to reveal with certainty any of
these objects. This circumstance, taken
in connection with its great apparent
size, seemed to give some ground for
supposing that it might be universe
similar to our own-though probably
infinitely larger. and more complex
situated far out in space. From eonsid-
erations too lengthy and complex to be
stated here, the appearance of the new
star in the nebula is inconsistent with
such an idea, and proves beyond a
doubt that the nebula itself is situated
within and forms part of our own sys-
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